Sunday, August 16, 2009

The LEGO(R) Experience Tour Hits the Road With Building Fun for the Entire Family

-National tour kicking off in Chicago is scheduled to visit 23 cities-

CHICAGO, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- LEGO Systems, Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of construction toys and experiences for families, starts a nationwide tour, called The LEGO(R) Experience, this weekend, August 15 and 16, at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

Scheduled to visit 23 cities throughout the United States, The LEGO Experience lets children and adults alike immerse themselves in the best that the LEGO brand has to offer, from hands-on, minds-on building fun to family building games and challenges to video games and inspiration models.

The company's first tour since 2003, The LEGO Experience features activity tents where families have a world of creative possibility at their fingertips:

Welcome Tent: families start their LEGO Experience with an overview of the activities, LEGO trivia and fun facts and are given their building permit to explore the fun.

Mash-Up Centerpiece: a celebration of the creative minds of children, LEGO Master Builders drew inspiration from every LEGO theme and play set available today to create a stunning centerpiece landscape of a LEGO CITY full of hidden surprises, humorous moments, creative models and building ideas to showcase how, in a child's mind, nothing is impossible.

FamilyBuilding Challenge: every member of the family is invited to step up to the podium and go head-to-head with other families in fun games and timed building challenges that get everyone in on the LEGO fun.

Construction Zone: families are invited to get hands-on, minds-on with the LEGO brand by exploring their imaginations and challenging their inner builders to create custom models to add to a LEGO Cityscape.

Discovery Zone: families step into a showcase of the best of the rest of what the LEGO brand has to offer. Interactive game stations let families plug into blockbuster LEGO video games. They can take in fan-generated LEGO movies, explore the rich online activities at LEGO.com or sign up to become members of the LEGO Club.

"We are thrilled to once again take the LEGO brand on the road to meet children and families in their hometowns throughout the U.S.," said Soren Torp Laursen, president, LEGO Systems, Inc. "The LEGO Experience showcases every facet of the LEGO brand, both the things most people know about and expect from the LEGO brand and many new LEGO experiences that are sure to deliver fun and lasting memories for every member of the family."

Two crews leave the launch event in Chicago to start their adventures, making stops at fairs, festivals and air shows throughout the U.S. The Western team will visit Rockford, IL, Minneapolis, Pueblo, CO, Salt Lake City, Reno, NV, Redding, CA, San Diego, Albuquerque, NM, Houston and Phoenix. The Eastern crew will roll into Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Rutland, VT, York, PA, Richmond, VA, Cape May, NJ, Atlanta, Raleigh, Columbia, SC and Shreveport, LA.

For more information, including dates and locations of event stops, visitwww.TheLEGOExperienceTour.blogspot.com. Families can also follow the tour adventures on Facebook by becoming fans of The LEGO Experience Tour.

LEGO Systems, Inc. (LSI) is the Americas division of the LEGO Group, a privately-held firm based in Billund, Denmark. The company is committed to the development of children's creative and imaginative abilities through high-quality, creatively educational play materials, and its employees are guided by the motto adopted in the 1930s by founder Ole Kirk Christiansen: "Only the best is good enough." For more information, visit www.LEGO.com

LEGO, the LEGO logo and the Minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group. (C)2009 The LEGO Group.

(Above is a press release from the Lego Group announcing and explaining the show. Posted here for your convienence.)For the first time in a LONG while (by my standards, that is) Lego will be putting on a roadshow in the US. The last major roadshow to take place in The United States was in 2003. The last one was wildly popular with both Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOL's) and the general public. I've also heard stories that the 2003 roadshow (and ones prior to 2003) helped start LEGO Users Groups and other LEGO fan events in the areas where they stopped. Photos of a Seattle-area AFOL display at one of the 2003 show's stops can be found here I am sure that this roadshow will live up to the standards set by the ones that came before it, and surpass them. Will it be visitingyour hometown?

1 comment:

Thanks for filling in (I changed my mind about the other Saturday post we had talked about).

As far as I can recall, the show prior to the 2003 show was 1998's Imagination Celebration (I'm only counting outdoor roadshows - the various Mindstorms preview tours shouldn't count). True roadshows in the US are pretty rare now - the only official show I could see when I was little (1993) was the travelling museum exhibit called "Invention Adventure".

...so anyway, by my count it's been 6 years since the last Truck Show, and 5 years before that. Still, it's great to see one in the US again.

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